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How Big A Buzz is 5-a-side Football Spreading In India?
Who wouldâve ever thought that Ronaldinho would play football on Indian soil, let alone score 5 goals in a single game? The success and popularity of the inaugural edition of Premier Futsal, proves how 5-a-side football is gaining a foothold in the Indian sports conscious.
Ronaldinho in Premier Futsal League 2016
Playing the pure form of 11-a-side football is difficult, primarily because there are hardly any venues where it makes sense to play 11-a-side. Be it the lack of a decent surface, the dimensions of the ground not being sufficient or just the fact that its hard to get 22 players to turn up for a game, the smaller formats, especially 5-a-side, have become more appealing to us in India.
Layout of a 5 a-side Football Turf
The recent advent of sports complexes with Astro turf pitches suitable for 5-a-side, 6-a-side and sometimes even 7-a-side, have fueled the popularity of these smaller formats of football. Also, most of these complexes provide tall nets all around the pitches so that they are able to catch most lofted balls. Its almost like playing in a cage so you need not worry about ball retrieval or hitting the ball too hard and breaking a car windshield or house window like you probably wouldâve done had you played in one of those open grounds.
Why people prefer 5-a-side Football?
5-a-side is ideal for players of all ages. For older players in general, the smaller grounds compensate for their lack of stamina if they were playing say, 11-a-side football and allow them to instead use their experience to keep up with the more agile, younger players. For younger players, it allows them to develop their close control, dribbling and shooting ability. And for all players, it helps develop teamwork more than anything else as 5-a-side teams have fewer resources than their 11-a-side counterparts, to commit for defense and attack.
People playing 5 a-side Football
The future for 5-a-side football in India is very bright. Hopefully, this 5-a-side trend spreads to Indian cities other than the main metropolitan oneâs that have already embraced it so that as professional football in India is becoming more and more viable as a career, there will be a vast pool of talent available for selection. And even if not as a career, just enabling the many avid football fans to play 5-a-side football on a regular basis to help them keep fit and healthy is more than enough!
PLAYO to the Rescue!
If you are interested in playing 5-a-side Football, Download the PLAYO app. Reserve bookings for grounds, find an ideal group of people to play with if they are not already part of a group, communicate with the group using the in-app chat facility and register your team for the many 5-a-side tournaments that are hosted all through the year at the various 5-a-side venues. For tips on Epic 5 a-side Formations, read through 6 Killer Formations in 5 a-side Football on our blog.
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